Fancy a curry?

It’s National Curry Week (7th -14th October) and lots of us will tuck into one curried dish or another this week, considering over 23 million Brits enjoy a tasty curry at least once a month! As a much loved favourite, not even the recession has curbed our love for a good ol’ curry. Overall spending on curry in the UK is over £250 million every year, it’s estimated an average person spends a staggering £34,000 on curry in their lifetime.

This year, whether you decide to cook a curry from scratch, bag yourself a supermarket ready meal or sit down at the local curry house armed with a large appetite and elasticated trousers, why not put a few simple things in place first.

Plan ahead!

There is a whole week of curry-loving to be had! Plan ahead and choose which day or days you want to show your curry love – no point buying the ingredients or the meal and you don’t eat it.

If you are preparing one yourself think about making enough for 2 meals – could be dinner today and lunch tomorrow, 2 days of evening meals or 1 for you and one to freeze for another day.

Curry meals are a great way to ‘cook once and eat twice’ so you can reduce how many times you will have to cook a meal from scratch. Check out some more ideas for planning or download a meal planner and use it!

Love your Leftovers!

Now that the nights are drawing in ever quicker and the cold air seems to circulate permanently round everyone’s feet, nothing hits the spot like that leftover curry! Using the ‘cook once, eat twice’ mantra, that lovely biryani cooked yesterday will taste just as good for tonight’s dinner.

If you didn’t cook a curry yesterday, you can forage through your fridge/freezer and still conjure up a curry in no time at all – try this recipe for leftovers Lamb Rogan Josh from Love Food Hate Waste http://england.lovefoodhatewaste.com/recipes/leftover-lamb-rogan-josh . That bit of leftover beef, chicken, lamb or turkey could be the starting point for mean jalfrezi!

Veggie curry is the perfect dish for the lonely veg in your fridge drawer – carrot, cauliflower, peas, beans and even broccoli taste great in a curry. Lentils, tofu and paneer also taste great so with lots of choice out there have a look online and in your cookery books for inspiration. The world is your oyster or paneer for veggie food lovers out there!

Smart Storage!

Store any leftovers (if you have any) in your fridge or freezer for a quick dinner another night. If it’s in the fridge remember to eat it within 2 days and in the freezer don’t forget to label the container with the content and date you put it in the freezer! Today’s lamb curry will taste just as good next Thursday after defrosting. Want to understand how much of a superhero your fridge freezer is? Check out the link to see more hints and tips about using your fridge freezer and why it really is the superhero appliance of your kitchen!

Eating out or takeaway

If you’re going to eat out or order in you can still have a curry another evening too without paying more. Take uneaten curry and naan home for lunch or dinner the next day or freeze it – you’ve bought it so ask the restaurant to bag it up for you to take it away. And if too much takeaway comes to your doorstep, store extra in the fridge or freeze.

What’s your favourite?

Here at West London Waste, we are partial to a good curry. A quick ask around the office uncovered a range of favourites – meaty and veggie – from the ever popular Tikka Masala, Biryani, Jalfrezi or Korma to the more unique dishes like Lamb Pasanda, Murch Achari or Chicken Majdar. In fact, everyone had a favourite curry dish!

Tell us what your curry favourites are and pass on your tips to love curry and hate waste, find us on Twitter @westlondonwaste and on Facebook (click on the icons at the top of the page).

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